Field Repairs & Alterations

Unbearable Conditions

What to do when bearing capacity is insufficient

Editor's Message: Part 2 Handling Plumber Damage Repairs

Best practices for addressing truss alterations by plumbers

Editor's Message: Handling Plumber Damage Repairs

According to an online survey of component manufacturers (CMs), 96 percent of respondents indicated they have had a plumber damage or modify their products after installation.

Don’t Immediately Offer to Repair!

Partition separation is not typically caused by truss uplift.

Plumbing Damage Costs & How to Avoid Them

This article will briefly explore how these calls can impact a CM’s bottom line and a few ways in which CMs can proactively work with tradespeople to avoid such issues. Truss repairs can very easily turn a profitable job into a money losing project. The cost incurred with this type of repair goes beyond the price of the materials. Costs for determining the issue for repair, designing the repair, and implementing a repair solution shouldn’t get lost in your accounting books. 

2018 North Carolina Residential Code Prescriptive Tables for Selection of Support Elements for Beams, Girders, and Headers: Example Problems

The tables are intended as a practical tool to assist contractors in the selection of footing widths and the determination of the quantity of wood studs required for supporting the end reactions of beams, girders, and/or headers. 

Create A Ceiling Vault In Existing Rafter Roof

Question: 

Is it possible to retrofit a standard rafter/joist style roof to a scissors truss configuration without replacing the existing construction?

Shimming Or Shaving Variances In Truss Dimensions

Question: 

If you have the condition where you are out by the max tolerances of 1/2 in., how do you correct the situation? Do you shim the truss from the bottom? Shim from the top? I will assume you do not shave the truss off. What is the published corrective action for situations that cannot handle the variation in truss height?

Alternate Nailing Patterns

Question: 

Some truss lumber repair nailing patterns call for 16d common nails. Most nail guns do not support 16d nails, but have an equivalent to a 12/10d nail. Is there a substitution guide or ESR report that could help us?

Cutting Trusses

Question: 

Our home has 2x4 roof trusses spanning 25 ft. spaced 16 in. O.C. Currently, there is limited attic storage on a plywood subfloor on the bottom chords, accessed via a small hatch in a closet. We would like to install a fold-down attic stair with a rough opening size of 25.5 in. x 54 in., with the long dimension perpendicular to the trusses. This would mean cutting the bottom chords of three trusses to frame the opening. Is this possible?